


Reset

by Lyssandra_Med



Series: One-Shot [27]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Loop, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Bellamione Cult War, Blood Magic, Discord: Bellamione Cult, F/F, One Shot, Resets, Ritual Magic, Some (mild) Smut, Team Furbae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 04:30:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20942306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssandra_Med/pseuds/Lyssandra_Med
Summary: Time is such a delicate thing.What if someone broke it?





	Reset

**Author's Note:**

> Mild Editing

** _LOOP 1_ **

The first loop was confusion, watching Turners turn to Tumblers, turn to glass and sand upon a whirlwind of magic. 

An errant Avada was her first Reset. 

** _LOOP 2_ **

The second loop was confusion, watching Turners turn to Tumblers, turn to glass and sand upon a whirlwind of magic. 

She dodged the Avada, fear in her belly and confusion at the  _ sameness.  _

A Diffindo from a wand at her back was the second Reset. 

** _LOOP 3_ **

The third loop was-

_ 'Wait…'  _

Avada. 

Diffindo. 

Scrambling hands and knees for cover-

A knife, cursed with blood and madness, was her third Reset. 

** _LOOP 6_ **

A knife-

** _LOOP 8_ **

The knife sailed over her head this time, her heart  _ soaring _ with delight at evading her death. 

She wasn't stupid, understood somewhat of what was happening-

A Crucio that sent her sprawling beneath the waves of an Aguamenti filled pool was her eighth Reset. 

** _LOOP 13 _ **

Lucky thirteen was hiding behind a shelf in some office deep within the Ministry, the sounds of Battle far away and behind her as she sought safety and a chance to recover. Her hands positively shook when she tried to open a drawer and look for Floo powder, the unlit fireplace filled with cold ash-

** _LOOP 14_ **

_ 'I'm not alone-'  _

An errant Avada was her fourteenth Reset. 

** _LOOP 24_ **

Skidding to a halt was hard work on floors made slippery by ice and summoned rain, harder still with someone hot on her heels, ready and willing to kill her. 

"What do you want!" Her voice was a scream shouted with her head turned, eyes trying (and failing) to predict the bend in the hall or the whip that shot forth from her pursuers wand to wrap about her wrist. 

A cracked skull and broken vertebra were her twenty-fourth Reset. 

** _LOOP 37 _ **

"Struggle all you want Muddy, you're not leaving here until you undo this." Bellatrix's wand was pressed up against her sternum, digging in, rooting for some hidden secret or spell. 

Her body fought through another bout of spasming muscles as she grit out, "I don't know what happened, I'm as confused as you are."

"Bull, you did something to the Turners and now we're  _ stuck,  _ it's  _ your  _ fault," the witch leaned forward and cast a wordless Crucio that had Hermione breaking and crying underneath her,  _ "How. Do. I. Fix. This?"  _

A knife to the throat, delivered by an impatient woman, ended her thirty-seventh Reset.

** _Loop 45_ **

“I fell forward, and rolled to the left-”

“I know that.”

“-and then the first group of them started falling, but it wasn’t at once, some were-”

“I know that too.”

“-already rewinding. Maybe they were hit with something-”

“If your eyes weren’t covered in mud you’d have already  _ seen _ that they were-”

“Hey!” Hermione rounded on the woman, the woman who was so obstinately fighting her every word while still trying to wring her for information with threats of violence and retribution. “I don’t see you doing anything useful, so either  _ shut up, _ or help!”

A knife to the heart, delivered by a red-faced woman with black eyes screwed up in hate and anger, ended her forty-fifth Reset.

** _Loop 99_ **

Bellatrix arrested her fall with a casual flick of her wrist that also nabbed Hermione’s left foot, dragging and propping them both up against a wall to watch the towering group of Turners all crumble to recycling dust and glass. Dolohov, standing behind and to her right, startled at the sudden action and tripped over the edges of his own robe, nudged along by the whip that extended from Hermione’s wand.

Eventually the repetition had gotten annoying enough (and ridiculous enough once they were able to plot out the others actions) that teaching the girl a spell or two to speed everything along had become a welcome reprieve.

From there they simply moved at their own leisure down the inactive sight lines, avoiding gazes and spells like it was the thousandth time (it wasn’t, but she was sure that even if it were they’d be doing the same thing even if it was only sped up just a mite.) After that it was only a matter of a few minutes to end up on the opposite side of the Department of Mysteries, itself just (somehow) on the opposite side of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. But they were now in the Department of Acquisitions and Restitutions (somehow), and at the very least it was all quiet.

Secret.

Empty save a janitor that they knew would return in approximately thirty-four minutes and twenty-three seconds, more than enough time for them to get where they needed to be. And where they needed to be was-

“Here,” Hermione tossed Bellatrix a key from beneath a countertop, the item having been held in place only by a single strip of tape and a mild sticking charm that wouldn’t have held up without said tape.

A bit redundant, really.

But Hermione would take what she could get, say thank you, and move on. 

Preferably to something  _ outside  _ of these damned loops, but a well aged bottle of whiskey was well enough, she supposed.

“How old are you even?” Bellatrix unlocked the case that held their target, her words muffled behind the veil of black curls that fell down around her head to half cover her face.

“How many Loops are we through? I think that’s the first time you’ve asked that.” Hermione pulled a chair from beneath its space at a desk, turning it around to drop heavily into, her wand tip-tapping against her knee as she waited on Bellatrix to get a move on.

The dark witch nodded her head side to side, “First time it’s come to me to ask. Less important than the whole  _ ‘Never ending repetition’  _ thing,” She turned and pulled two small glasses out of thin air, levitating the bottle to uncork and fill the glasses to their brim.

“Sixteen, technically. But I had access to Professor McGonagall’s personal Turner during my third year; I’m seventeen as of three months ago.” Hermione grabbed the offered glass and took a slug down her throat, face screwed up with the heat and burn from the alcohol.

Bellatrix nodded as she sat down, her own glass paused before her lips, “I didn’t know the old Cat still had that. Thought I was the only one to get that privilege.”

Hermione’s eyes widened and whiskey caught in her throat, questions turning to sputtering coughs as she fought for breath.

Bellatrix grinned, her mouth a rotting cesspool of broken and jagged teeth turned black with disuse, disease, and lack of any reason to care. “Little Mudbaby can’t hold her liquor, I see.”

“No,” Hermione sputtered once air reached her lungs, “I- I just didn’t know she’d ever lent it out before.”

“She did,” Bellatrix took a swig and leaned back, her face growing thoughtful and pensive, “Once upon a time I wasn’t much different from you. I mean,” the witch leaned forward and eyed Hermione with her darkest glare, “I was bred proper, but the whole  _ ‘Greatest Witch of the Age’ _ is a title that’s gone to more than just you.”

Hermione, maybe confused and inebriated by the high proof of liquor, maybe tired of reliving the same moment again and again, pooled up all her courage and set her face into something… open.

“Tell me about yourself? Please?”

\---

Alcohol poisoning, and filled lungs, managed to end her ninety-ninth Reset.

** _Loop 283_ **

After securing their little spot in the Department of Acquisitions, Hermione set to her assigned order of tasks. First, among many, were the quick application of healing and bone growth spells that she learned up on the second floor amid a library tucked away in the corner of a department devoted towards mingling Muggle Science with Wizarding Magic. The spell was quick, nearly painless, and the results were  _ fantastic. _

Where there had once been rotting bone were now shiny new caps of enamel, brilliant and clean while smelling faintly of wintergreen.

“Thank you,” Bellatrix leaned back from Hermione’s face (red, tinged red and flushed with  _ heat _ ) before pulling her own wand out and readying their little practice space. “So, we’ve covered physical ailment curses and jinxes, what did you want to work on next?”

Hermione tilted her head and brought sharp nails to her chin, tip-tapping away as she thought of whatever would be useful. “How about the smoke-apparition thing? We haven’t gone on that at all.”

Bellatrix nodded, “Alright then Pet. Just know it can be fatal if not done right, you’ll suddenly emerge inside a crowded vent, or mingled with a wall. Instant end.”

“I can do it,” Hermione spoke with a mixture of false and true bravado, ready to set her mind to it now that she had a teacher with a mixture of drive and tenacity that she both shared and respected. “Not like dying will stop anything anyways.”

\---

Hermione’s head returned to a semblance of its own weight and mass (and thus volume) while within the confines of a small crack within the brickwork making up their little training room. A quick (if embarrassing) end to her two hundred eighty-third Reset.

** _Loop 489_ **

Warm fingers pinched at the soft bud of flesh atop Hermione’s chest, pulling and twisting with deliberate care and force, timed exactly to the soft nips and warm tongue wrapped around the other. The free hand was wrapped up around her throat, long fingers extended as far as they could, black nails pushing forcefully into her skin in an attempt to mark, to claim, draw blood and declare as  _ hers. _

The marks never lasted but the feelings remained the same, deliberate and drowned beneath alcohol as they were.

“-more-” 

Bellatrix left the bud between her lips to lave a trail of warmth from collarbone to beneath her hand, releasing her grip to continue onwards and upwards to her lips. Tongue battled tongue as she lowered her free hand along the soft plane of Hermione’s skin, her nails dragging red trails until she reached her core.

The girl was wet, naked and panting beneath her body, her fingers free to pinch and pull at the slightly stiff knot of flesh at the apex, gasps and moans filtering between their mouths as she moved. With a hiss of desire she left the girl with a stinging bite that brought blood to dribble down her chin, kisses and the sharp mark of her teeth leaving a trail as she descended. When she was close enough to taste she reoriented herself, arms under hips and lifting to bring them lip to lip, her tongue darting out to taste nectar and  _ desire. _

\---

A panicked ministry worker ended the loop, their wand drawn at the sound of screams that they mistook pleasure for pain. 

** _Loop ???_ **

Hermione shuddered as the leather between her grip bit down onto the pale flesh of the woman underneath her hips, wand tightening and pulling until arms were pulled taut against opposite corners of her conjured bed.

“Careful with how tightly you go,” Bellatrix spoke around the gag in her mouth, black eyes watching with concern as Hermione continued to pull.

“You stabbed me in the heart twenty-seven times, I think I deserve you losing just the littlest bit of feeling in your fingers.” Brown eyes peered down into black with an eyebrow cocked, her face somewhere between sarcasm and sincerity.

“...”

“That’s what I thought,” she pulled tighter yet again, “Now get comfortable, there were some spells in that book we haven’t tried yet.”

\---

The loop ended when Hermione, ever enthusiastic, pulled just a  _ bit  _ too tightly against the rope, her knife cutting just a  _ bit  _ too deeply.

** _Loop ???_ **

“Ha-rry,” Hermione singsonged down the hallway, her face a grin that was wide and unyielding, brown eyes wandering side to side as she followed his retreating footsteps.

“Hermione look,” the boy spoke from up ahead around a corner, “Look, I don’t know what happened but if it’s an Imperius-”

“HARRY!” Her words were a scream that rolled forward with the force of magic and anger, “GET BACK HERE!”

\---

The loop ended with four Aurors, Mad-Eye included, cutting her down amid a swirl of black smoke and haunting laughs, Bellatrix on her mind and anger in her heart.

** _Loop ???_ **

“We can’t keep doing this,” Hermione dropped onto the ground with a heavy sigh as she splayed outwards, wand rolling from her hand and Bellatrix kneeling down until she could lay atop her, warm and comforting in her weight and grasp. “It’ll drive me mad, and you-”

“Madder than I already am, I know.” Bellatrix placed her lips against the throbbing point of skin above Hermione’s pulse, her nails pressing inwards on warm flesh as she wriggled her hands beneath Hermione’s shirt.

“So what do we do?”

\---

Reset.

** _Loop ???_ **

Reset.

** _Loop ???_ **

Reset-

_ ‘No.’ _

Hermione woke into a grasping embrace, her lungs burning with fire and heart pounding away inside her chest. Bellatrix had her hands wrapped around her from behind, palms sitting atop the knife that was now embedded into her chest, wriggling it and pulling until it was free from the cage of flesh and bone. Her words were too quick to hear, a rush of fevered spells and promises mixed with gasping pleas. The healing wasn’t normal, wasn’t rational, a knot of scar tissue and curse-blood welling up to etch itself upon her.

The space between her breasts was white now, white and angry as it throbbed with pain and the after effects of the curse-

Never healing.

Never  _ alone. _

Bellatrix’s will condensed into the spellwork that had been laid upon the steel, blessed with blood somewhere in a forge now overgrown with disuse and dust.

“You’re still here,” those hands dropped the knife by their side, wrapping around her torso and clutching her tightly while she spoke into Hermione’s loose curls and mess of frizz, “We’re still here-”

“Bellatrix-”

“Hush, hush Pet,” Bellatrix began to rock back and forth with fear and  _ happiness, _ “You’re alright…”

\---

Voldemort hadn’t seen it coming, not one bit.

One minute his lieutenant was by his side, the next she was holding a knife above his  _ Horcruxes, _ her face a mixture of pity and disgust; fear spreading through his veins for only the second time in his long and unnatural life.

\---

Harry, and by extension Dumbledore as well as the rest of her friends, hadn’t seen it coming, not one bit.

One minute she was their friend, their student, and the next she was hand in hand with the Madwoman Bellatrix Lestrange, strange objects bundled in her arms and something hard glinting from behind her eyes.

When they were done, and Gods were they done by the time the ashes settled, it seemed their friend was done as well.

Gone; no longer the girl they had used to know.

Gone; removing herself from Hogwarts with nary a single look back.

Gone; on the run with Bellatrix Lestrange, the Ministry running circles trying to figure out if they should pardon the woman or demand a Witch Hunt the likes of which hadn’t been seen in generations.

\---

“How long were we in there,” Hermione leaned into the witch at her side, warm fingers playing with the golden ring inscribed with the Black crest and family motto.

“At least a millennium, maybe more,” came the warm reply, their eyes both pulled to the land slowly rising over the horizon.

Hermione nodded, her magic spilling out from the curse mark to wrap around Bellatrix’s own, a flush of heat and love, and no small bit of madness, touching back at her tentative intrusion. “I wouldn’t trade it.”

Bellatrix abandoned the scenery for Hermione’s face, a spray of ocean water rising over the bow to mist them both with salt and cold, “You mean it?”

“Yes,” Hermione nodded once before unclasping their hands to wrap arms around Bellatrix’s warm torso, “I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like Bellamione? https://discord.gg/pcfMU4F come on in and join the server!


End file.
